Hong Kong’s long-established financial center, burgeoning startup scene and developed business center connecting Mainland China with global markets, have made the location one of the world’s top fintech hubs in world.
Image credit: Hong Kong by cozyta, via Shutterstock.com
Deloitte has ranked Hong Kong as the fifth leading fintech hubs in 2016, ahead of South Korea, Switzerland and Frankfurt.
According to the audit firm, Hong Kong has the natural branding of Asia’s largest financial center, providing an immediate attraction for fintech. The location’s position as Asia’s super connector is particularly attractive for B2B solutions and its historical proximity to China makes it hard for other hubs to displace Hong Kong.
Accenture, DBS and Standard Chartered are just a few names in the extensive list of banks and firms that have set a fintech acceleration program in Hong Kong.
Today, we take a look at some of Hong Kong’s hottest fintech startups.
8 Securities
8 Securities is a leading online and mobile investing service in Asia with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo.
8 Securities’ portfolio includes a robo-advisor service and a mobile stock trading app. 8 Securities was the first in Asia to follow the lead of notorious US-based stock trading app Robinhood and offer no-commission trading.
The company has raised US$17 million in funding so far.
ANX International
ANX International is a fintech company specializing in digital currency and blockchain technology.
ANX aims at being a one- stop solution that merges blockchain technologies with traditional payment networks in the new digital assets ecosystem. The company’s portfolio includes ANX Blockchain Solutions, ANX Payment Solutions, ANX Next Commercial Solutions.
The company also operates two trading platforms and offers debits cards that connect digital currencies with the traditional payment system.
APrivacy
APrivacy is an award-winning fintech company that provides the banking and finance industry with an information security and tracking service.
APrivacy’s patented solution allows bankers to communicate and share information with their clients using the devices they prefer (iPhone, Android, etc.) via the channels they prefer (Gmail, Outlook, Dropbox, etc. ) and the medium they prefer (email, PDF, PPT, Word, Excel, etc. ).
APrivacy has offices in Ontario, Canada, and Hong Kong.
Bitspark
Bitspark is a remittance platform serving the Asia-Pacific region.
Bitspark provides the world first cash in cash out remittance platform for individuals and Money Transfer Operators to send money to emerging markets cheaper, quicker and to more destinations than ever before leveraging Bitcoin as the means of transmission.
Currently, Bitspark allows users to send money to the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam with cash pickup at partnering shops, pawnshops, local bank account transfers, among other withdrawal methods.
CompareAsiaGroup
Founded in 2013, CompareAsiaGroup is Asia’s leading and fastest growing financial comparison platform, with a presence in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
CompareAsiaGroup offers a comprehensive overview across various financial products, and is a one-stop solution for peoples price comparison needs in Asia. The company works with over 60 partners in the region, including Allianz, American Express, ANZ, Axa, DBS, HSBC, Generali, MayBank and Citi Bank.
CompareAsiaGroup has raised US$46 million in funding so far.
Contineo
Contineo is the first industry supported, open messaging network for private banks and wealth management firms to access issuers of structured products.
Contineo provides multiple ways to connect, multiple APIs to choose from, and multiple issuers on network.
Contineo’s technology provides clients options and access, and also standards to allow rapid connectivity and the means to integrate services directly into their front, middle and back-office systems.
The company also works with other certified technology vendors to connect their products to its network.
Quantifeed
Quantifeed is leading provider of digital wealth management solutions to financial institutions in Asia.
Quantifeed’s automated investment platform allows banks, brokers and wealth planners to offer their customers a digital investing experience under their own brand.
Quantifeed’s software and financial models provide institutions with a configurable solution to suit their wealth management objectives. The online platform enables users to invest in portfolios of stocks, funds and other asset classes across all major global markets.
Lenddo
Founded in 2011, Lenddo is a technology company that uses non-traditional data to provide credit scoring and verification for the emerging middle class around the world.
Lenddo has developed its patented technology based on four years of actual online lending experience that included collection, analysis and processing of billions of data points. The Lenddo Data Science team uses advanced machine learning techniques to build predictive algorithms.
In January 2015, Lenddo opened its technologies for third parties. The company has partnered with a number of institutions across the world, including I-Lend in Singapore, FKBCG in South Korea and FICO in India.
Lenddo has raised US$14 million in funding so far.
Neat
Neat is a mobile current account solution that allows users to follow their finances, set saving goals and have a 100% digital banking experience. It is designed for the millennial generation and will come with a MasterCard for online and offline shopping.
The service has yet to be launched.
TNG Wallet
TNG Wallet is one of Hong Kong’s leading e-wallets with over 370,000 downloads and usage rate comprising around 5% of Hong Kong’s population.
The mobile app features instant money transfer, forex, bank transfer, global bill payment and global SIM top-up functionalities.
The app currently allows cross-border peer-to-peer payments in Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan; with the launch in Singapore still awaiting regulatory approval.
In August, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted TNG Wallet a stored-value license alongside Alipay Wallet, Tap and Go, WeChat Pay and Octopus & O! ePay.
WeConvene
Launched in 2012 by former investment professionals and IT experts, WeConvene is a platform for the finance community aimed at revolutionizing how interactions between investors, corporate and the sell side community are managed, measured and evaluated.
WeConvene brings both the buy side and sell side on to a common platform; streamlining corporate access booking, eliminating the need for email, and returning to portfolio managers, analysts and sales people their most valuable asset.
In April, WeConvene signed a deal with Bloomberg to centralize corporate access events on the Bloomberg Professional service.
WeLab
WeLab is a fintech startup founded in 2013 operating a number of online lending platforms including Wolaidai, one of China’s leading mobile leading platforms, and WeLend, Hong Kong’s leading online lending platform.
In January 2016, WeLab completed its US$160 million Series B funding round, the fourth largest fundraising and second largest Series B in fintech globally.
WeLab has raised US$180 million in funding so far from a number of international and domestic Chinese investors such as ING Bank, Chinese state-owned Guangdong Technology Financial Group (GTFG) and Sequoia Capital.
Featured image: from Pixabay
